Never Before
by year of the fox
Summary: She's not a nanny, classmate, businesswoman, duelist, a friend from the orphanage, Yugi's sister, the girl he saved from the street, Kisara reincarnate, secretary, alternate-dimension author, arranged marriage bride… you get it… And she's certainly not hiding any secret past. Idea I hadn't seen yet, thought I'd write & share. One-shot.


Seto Kaiba ran a serious business. He had clear expectations and high standards and they reflected in the type of people who occupied his building. His workers knew to keep their heads down and always look like they were working; his pressure for results pushed down through every supervisor to his lowest level workers. People who entered the lobby came in with a purpose, went straight to the desk, and rushed along. They were just as hurried to leave the building. This is why the receptionist noticed the girl almost immediately and knew that something was different.

The girl's long golden-brown hair trickled further down to her mid-back as she looked up. She had stopped upon entering the lobby, now allowing a minute for her hazel eyes to take it all in. She pocketed her hands in her long, open coat as she looked around. The large silvery and chrome space was a completely new aesthetic to her. She counted the floors allowed to gaze over a balcony down at the lobby before a ceiling cut the rest from view. There was scarcely anything in the huge space, except for a few large plants and backless benches. After a moment she seemed satisfied, or perhaps more aware of herself, as she lowered her gaze and looked around the floor before proceeding. She saw the receptionist, her eyes already on her, and took this an invitation to approach.

"What can I help you with today?" the receptionist asked cautiously, though, did her best not to give away any of her hesitation in her tone.

The girl looked away a moment, then took a breath. "I'm here to speak to the CEO."

This was even more interesting to the receptionist. "Do you have an appointment?"

The girl shook her head, "No, it's not like that." It seemed as though she was going to say something more, but gave no more information.

The receptionist sighed. "I'm afraid I can't let you up then."

"I get that, but… I think he'll still want to see me," the girl answered cautiously. She looked away and shrugged, another thought coming to her: "Or not." She looked back at the receptionist watching her carefully, then realized her second remark did not help her case. "Could you please just relay a message to Gozaburo for me?"

The receptionist leaned forward, narrowing her eyes as though that would help with her auditory processing. "Excuse me? Did you just say Gozaburo?"

The girl nodded, and the receptionist leaned back in her seat. "Gozaburo passed away years ago. Seto Kaiba is the current president."

"Oh," she replied, looking down for a second to think. "Is he Gozaburo's son? He knew him?"

"Yeah," the receptionist summarized, her focus more on the girl than her answers. The receptionist was too curious at this point. "Why did you think he'd want to see you?" she asked.

The girl took another breath and held it for a moment, looking away as though the words she needed might be hidden off to the side of her. She decided to go ahead and say it. "I think I'm his daughter."

* * *

><p>Kaiba heard a knock on his double doors, followed by a familiar "It's me," from Roland.<p>

"Come in," Kaiba replied gruffly. He never looked up from his papers, continuing to engross himself in them as Roland entered.

"Mr. Kaiba," Roland began. "The receptionist just called me over on a matter. She was too afraid of you finding it insignificant and bothering you, but she also thought you may want to know. She's having a dilemma with a girl downstairs who claims to be, er… your stepfather's daughter."

Seto's eyes flashed to Roland, his full attention now on him.

"I know what you're thinking, that it's a scam or something, but I was sure to talk with her fully about it before bothering you. It seems she may well be telling the truth, and if she is, I'm not sure what it means to you, so I wanted to bring it to your attention."

Seto immediately dropped the papers as he directed, "Let her in."

Roland bowed before leaving to retrieve the girl.

A moment later she cautiously entered the CEO's office. Before she reached him, he demanded, "What do you want?"

The girl paused. She extracted a hand from her coat to motion to Roland. "Did he not tell you what this was about?" she asked.

"He did. By the looks of you I'd say you're looking for money," he began.

"No, whoa," she corrected. "I'm not looking for money or here to mess up your dad, our dad, whatever- his image or anything. I just wanted to know who he was. I was hoping you could tell me about him." She was in moderate disbelief, and asked another thing of him before he could answer. "You're not the least bit interested in the fact that I'm very well your sister? Do you have a sister?"

"I don't have a sister," Kaiba scoffed as he collected and tapped his papers, neatening them before putting them away in his drawer. He stood, coming around the table to use his intimidating height against her. He still kept his distance, pocketing his hands and leaning on the front of his desk. "You are not my sister either. That man was my _step_father." This tidbit so early allowed her to not feel sick when she had a fleeting thought about how handsome he was. It passed quickly as a normal reaction, and unimportant with her current concerns. "What makes you think you're his daughter, anyway? Is it something your mother pinned on him?"

"I never knew my birth mother. I guess she died giving birth to me, but already had planned to give me up. I used what I had to hire a private investigator. He found her name and backtracked, and through different bank statements and emails and whatever, found that Gozaburo was most likely my father. So I'll be honest with you, I don't know for sure. Do you have anything that might have his DNA on it for a paternity test?"

Seto did consider this for a moment. "I seriously doubt it," he answered finally. "I destroyed everything of his I could think of when he died."

She froze for a second, a little taken aback by his comment. "You must have really hated him. How did your mother feel about that?"

"She never knew," he answered brashly.

"Ok, sorry- dad. I didn't mean to make assumptions-"

"I was adopted," he finally interrupted.

She was now clearly confused. "But a moment ago you called him your _step_father, not adoptive father."'

"You call yours whatever you want, but I'm done talking about something so petty." Seto knew the world of abandoned children, though he had never experienced this side of it. The idea of consistent, loving parents who _wanted_ you was something completely foreign to him. His curiosity got the better of him. "When did you know you were adopted?"

His question lingered in the air a moment before she decided how to answer. "I'm still waiting," she replied. "I grew up in an orphanage, nobody wanted me." His tangent made her pry. "Well, if you come across anything that may have his DNA, could you send it my way or something?"

"If it makes my list of priorities," he answered darkly.

She sighed at his difficulty. "Look, I know I'm holding you up, but I plan to never see you again after this. Could you please just tell me about him?"

"I'm afraid I don't have anything you want to hear," he began, watching, but her silence and full attention cued him to continue. "He ran this company foolishly as a military company. He was married. He had a son named Noah who died at a young age-"

"Noah?" she interrupted. "How old was he?"

"He and I were about the same age. I was adopted at 12 and he died just before then."

She looked away, something clicking, but she said nothing. This bothered Seto.

"What is it?"

"I must be a result of an affair," she answered. This unexpected CEO seemed to be no more than a few years older than she was. "He either didn't know about me or wouldn't break up his family for me."

"That wouldn't surprise me," replied Seto casually in the wake of her revelation. "He was a cold bastard."

She finally looked back at him, a bit unhappy with his abrupt nature. "You mean like you?"

This infuriate Seto, but it was a silent seething. Slowly, he went over to tower directly above her. Then he made it very clear. "I am _nothing_ like him," he growled. "He was a terrible man in ways you could never dream."

"He _adopted_ you," she reminded him, looking directly up into his eyes.

"I made him," Kaiba replied evenly.

She didn't reply to this, a bit caught off guard. There was something peculiar and dangerous in this man. It was terrifying and alluring all at the same time. Finally, she responded, "Then what does that say about you?"

"I don't care. It's not something I'd spend my time thinking about," he snapped.

Kaiba looked down at the girl, and she looked back up at him. In his hatred and need to intimidate, he now stood very close to her, looking down into her eyes. Slowly, after he had a moment, that rage turned into a realization. He was standing over a girl, a decently lovely one at that, and she gave it right back to him. She neither flirted nor pulled away. She wasn't trying to play him for anything. It made this moment unique to all other experiences he had until this point in his life.

She turned her head, annoyed, then looked back up at him. "Are you going to tell me anything I want to hear, or am I wasting my time?"

This aggravated Seto, and began to rebuild his rage. Waste _her_ time? Did she not see that he was running a company here?

He was silent through his rancor, but she took the silence as an answer to her question.

"Thank you for your time," she said sharply before she turned, leaving him standing there in his whirlwind of thoughts.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong> Kaiba's character fascinates me. I've always been bothered at the cliché nature of the beginning of my SetoxOC series. At the time I wrote it, I felt I needed a situation where he was forced to speak with her, and based on the needs of who she is, that setting needed to be school. I finally had an idea for a different way for a girl to meet him & felt the need to write it.

**I've written this as a planned one-shot, though comments have urged me to continue before. If this is something you want to see continued, I'm open to any name suggestions for her, because nothing called to me. It may become a series of new ways Kaiba meets girls that at least I haven't seen before.**

**Also**, if you're interested in my writing for KaibaxOC, I have a series where the goal was to make a realistic Kaiba love story. It is OC as I didn't see any of the original cast members working. The first is titled _There Has to Be More to It_.


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